A Snowflake on the Wind
by frodo-the-hobbit
Summary: Firefly AU. Three years after the Universe battle, life goes on in the verse for everyone. But trained companion Elsa's is uprooted when her family is killed for a mistake she made and she's forced to take her brother on the run from the government that owns the verse, Elsanna DLDR
1. Frozen Heart

It was cold on St. Albans. It was always cold on St. Albans. Any folk who said it wasn't cold on St. Albans would touched in the head. But Elsa liked the cold of St. Albans, at least enough to feel happy on the planet, though not enough to freeze to death outside in the winter cold.

It had been nine years since Elsa had been on St. Albans. Nine years since she'd left the core worlds. Nine years since she'd known anything but the Companion House Madrassa on Sihnon; all her friends, all the clients she'd serviced in three short years since becoming a registered companion.

_I think I might miss the heating most of all_

Elsa hooked a small teapot on a cane as she pulled it away from the small fireplace she had burning and poured a small cup, letting the steam rise over her face. It was the one part of the service she'd provided so shortly ago she hated doing. All the companion training in the world couldn't have made Elsa any less uncomfortable when meeting a new person or having to let them in to her life, even if sometimes it had only been for a few brief hours.

She held the cup in front of her face and breathed deeply, before taking off her thin gloves to allow herself to feel the warmth coming from it. Her fingers covered up the characters for Xiao Mei Mei.

_Why couldn't companions drink hot chocolate instead of tea?_

The tea burnt her tongue slightly. She winced and spat it out before glancing across the table. This was the first time in nine years there go those nine years again that she hadn't been seated across from someone. Well that's why you burnt your tongue idiot, no conversation time to let it cool.

Placing the tea down she rummaged in the small backpack she'd brought with her inside and pulled out the framed photo of her parents, the only picture she'd ever have of them after the Alliance had killed them.

There was a series of knocks at the door as Elsa jumped and knocked the tea over. Elsa listened intently as she heard the pattern repeated three times. She practically ran to the door and pulled it open as a huge man carrying a small boy in one arm bustled in, brushing snow off his heavy cloak.

The man suited the build of the hardy mining folk who made St. Albans their home; nearly seven feet tall with the hard shoulder pads and rounded mining helmet contrasting with his homespun cloak and the patterned jumper. No matter where she was in the verse, Elsa would recognise him.

"Uncle Oaken" she said warmly as she bowed slightly. Oaken's response was to pull her in tight with his free hand.

"There's no need to be so formal with me Elsa, I'm no fancy core man" he said as he crushed her into his chest. It went against everything Elsa had been trained to do as she wrapped her arms around the man and squeezed her eyes shut. The jumper he was wearing smelled vaguely of dirt. She didn't care.

"I missed you so much" Elsa said, as she let a tear roll down her cheek. Nine years.

"And I you child, but I'm afraid time is short." He placed the boy down. He smiled up at Elsa with a wide grin, missing the teeth either side of his two front ones.

"Hi" Elsa said as she crouched down, "You must be Olaf".

In response to his name the young boy stretched out his arms and kept grinning.

"He likes warm hugs" Oaken said quietly.

Well I doubt I'm the best person to give him one

Despite the cold raging outside Elsa wasn't wearing anything more than a hoodie branded with Blue Sun's logo on the back, she wasn't even wearing her thin gloves any more. Olaf felt unnaturally warm when she opened her arms and pulled him in.

"Olaf, this is your big sister Elsa" Oaken said.

"Hi Olaf" Elsa said quietly. Olaf had only just been born shortly before she'd gone to the companion academy. She'd spent her whole life with an older brother before, and now there was no older brother, only a younger one.

_I can't be your Xiao Mei Mei, but I can sure as hell try to be your big sister_

Elsa wondered if Olaf even spoke Mandarin, there weren't a huge amount of people on St. Albans that spoke Mandarin. Even Oaken didn't and he ran the local trade post.

"Elsa, you can't stay here long, we're only about 100 miles from the federal outpost here." Oaken said, handing her a small tattered notebook. She stuffed it in the front pocket of the Blue Sun garment. "That's everything you need to know about Olaf, I hope. I'm sorry this happened child, truly."

Elsa took Olaf's hand and grabbed her backpack as she motioned towards the door. She braced herself as Oaken opened it for her and a blast of snow and freezing air came through.

"Nothing like St Albans winter!" Oaken shouted above the roar of the wind as Elsa ran to the small shuttle parked twenty feet from the small house. Somehow Oaken had already gotten to the door before the pair of them and he barely strained against the wind as he propped the door open and lifted Olaf inside.

Elsa gave him another hug.

"Thank you for everything uncle Oaken" she shouted.

"Make for Harvest, there should be plenty of freelancers. Aim for a ship going to Persephone, someone there might take you to Haven, or Whitefall".

Elsa nodded, the cold wind and snow making her eyes water. Oaken pulled her into another hug.

"Yongqi Elsa" she heard him shout over the deafening wind.

_Courage, seems appropriate_

He pushed her through the shuttle doors and closed it. It had been empty when she'd arrived less than a day earlier, barring a comfortable bed and tea set, not that they mattered now.

Her uncle had loaded crates of protein packs, blocks of vitamins, all pure goods for bartering her way onto the planet. Plus a small box marked 'For Elsa, be safe" with the same words written underneath in Mandarin script.

All too soon she'd sat herself down in the cockpit and pulled away, glancing down at Oaken's rapidly shrinking form stood amongst charred buildings. Elsa stole one last look at the home where she'd spent the first twelve years of her life, and where her parents and brother would always remain buried.

_Think of the boy, he's only ten. This must be a nightmare for him._

Elsa turned her head to the co-pilots seat, surprised to see Olaf with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Where are we going then Elsa?" he smiled.

Elsa's eyes widened. It seemed surprising for a boy who'd lost his parents and home so recently to put such absolute trust in someone he'd only just met. Although maybe that was the whole reason why he was doing it.

"Have you ever left St. Albans Olaf?" Elsa asked quietly.

"Nope!" Olaf said loudly, grabbing on to the ends of his feet as Elsa flicked switches above his head and they broke cloud cover.

"Well, we're going out into the verse Olaf. Somewhere the Alliance won't find us."

* * *

"Look Captain, I don't understand why we're stuck on Harvest for another day, I've just got her all fixed up and runnin'."

"My boat, my rules. We're staying another day to see if we can drum up a little more business."

The young mechanic pulled herself out from underneath the slowly rotating engine and wiped grease from the left side of her face. She reached up with her left hand and passed the captain a long piece of hardware; flared at both ends, covered in singed wires.

"Know what this is Captain?"

The captain's green eyes glanced down at her before looking at the part he held in his hand.

"If I did then why would I be paying a mechanic?"

"Oh shush Hans, we both know you love havin' me around, I'm your little Mei Mei you big Chwen,".

Hans responded by pushing his boot against the block of wood she was lying face up on and it slid along the rollers and her feet crashed into the opposite wall.

"Don't speak to your captain like that Anna, now what is so important about this?"

"Well" Anna said as she climbed off the rollers and stood up, "if the connections on that coil went we'd lose half the power to the heaters, meanin' we'd all freeze do death and have plenty of oxygen to keep us all breathin' just long enough to see our skins go blue."

Hans stared indignantly at her before placing the coil in a holster on his belt.

"This wouldn't be happenin' if you'd traded this old girl in for that class four cap'n, some of the parts in her are nearly fifty years old y'know"

"I'll send Rider out to see if he can grab us a new one". Hans said, grabbing a threadbare leather jacket covered in insignia patches hanging on the walls. "Go do your thing where you sit outside and pull in some business."

"Yes sir captain sideburns" came the reply as Anna did a mock salute and clicked her heels.

Hans rolled his eyes as he stepped through the engine threshold and began calling the name Rider. Anna wiped her forehead and was dismayed to find the back of her hand completely covered in black oil.

_Well isn't that just shiny._

"Need a hand?" came the voice of the ship's doctor, her long blonde hair trailing down the couch she was sprawled out on with a book held a few inches above her head.

"Well what do you think Punzey? Hans is askin' me to go out all pretty and I'm lookin' like I just crawled out of some pit on Miranda."

It had been three years since everyone in the verse had found out about Miranda, and strangely on the core worlds it just gave rise to more jokes than uproar.

The doctor, Rapunzel, rolled over and paced to the kitchen to grab a dishcloth and run it under some cold water.

"I'll get most of it off before you turn the whole shower black."

Anna wiped her hands down her overalls, which were now somewhat filthy after nearly 2 straight years of tending to engines, before drawing her fringe back away from her forehead.

She shivered as the rag rubbed across the top of her head.

"S'cold!" she said, laughing involuntarily.

"Well I'm terribly sorry, look most of it's gone, go grab a shower." Rapunzel replied as she nibbled the edge of a square block of protein. "Would it kill them to ever put flavour in these? I miss hazelnuts."

"Well we can't all be lucky core girls like you who grew up with hazelnuts spillin' outta our pockets can we?" Anna teased before skipping off down the ship to grab a towel and some shower gel from her bunk.

"What was that all about Blondie?" came a voice from behind Rapunzel. She span around and lashed out the with dishcloth.

"Oh, it's you Flynn, sorry." the blonde giggled as a tall man brushed away the remnants of oil and water he'd had splashed on his face.

"You been playin with Anna again?"

"Playing is hardly the word Flynn, there's enough kiddie type joy wrapped up in that little redhead for the whole ship, never mind me"

"Yeah she'd probably be happy if you pushed her out into the black as long as she was spinnin', seems like she'd enjoy anythin' an awful large amount." he paused for a minute before stepping in front of her, "so Blondie, I was... uhhh"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "What do you want then?"

"Captain face fuzz is making me go raid the markets for a replacement of this part here, come keep me company?"

Eyes rolled again. "Alright, but you're buying me some dinner while we're out there."

"You seen the grub out there blondie? Couple of things about the grilled dogs I don't wanna know nothin' about."

"Can you two stop flirting when there are civilised folk about" came a shout from the direction of the bunks. Flynn shouted something back in Chinese that Anna didn't catch.

_Prettify myself up_ she thought absentmindedly as she twirled one of her braids in her non-greasy hand, _S'pose it can't hurt to have my hair up once in a while._

* * *

"Okay Olaf, just stick with me please".

The sun was out and shining brightly, if brightly was what you could say about Zhu Que; the Red Sun. Sunrise had been less than an hour ago and the world was bathed in an odd glow with shades of orange as Elsa stepped out of the shuttle holding Olaf's hand tightly.

"Can I be of some service ma'am" came a cracked voice as a man missing an eye walked into the docking bay and removed his trilby, giving a low bow. Elsa noticed he was also missing fingers on both hands.

"Yes. I want to find a ship going to Persephone, and I want everything on board this shuttle moved to storage until I find one."

"Oh yeah I can see why," The man said stroking his bearded chin, "shuttle like this wouldn't-a made it that far, 'specially not a PX-Class, where'd you sail from."

"St. Albans, if that's any of your concern" Elsa replied again, not raising the volume of her voice.

"Ohh yeah from that little speck of ice," he continued, drawling the word ice out, "even that I'd say is beyond this little bird's capabilities."

Elsa felt a tug on her arm as Olaf pointed towards the door, where sunlight was creeping into the hangar making all the dust particles dance in the air.

"In a minute Olaf," she said quietly, "I also want to sell this shuttle."

"Ohhh indeed ma'am" he continued, placing a toothpick in his mouth and rubbing two filthy fingers against his thumb, "What're you askin' for then? Fresh one can go for fifty, this bird has spent time down on Albans and that's never good for em. Bit outta shape, might take the value down."

"Two thousand" she said quietly.

He nearly inhaled his toothpick as his eyes widened.

"For a PX Shuttle? Credits right?". Elsa nodded slightly as he grabbed her free hand and pumped it up and down repeatedly. "Done deal ma'am, done deal, pleasure". He pulled a small electronic key and placed it in her palm as he released her hand. "Locker 1080" he said with a huge toothless grin before banging his massive hands together, "Move your gorram rears you sons of Reaver's, y'all have got work to be doin'.

Elsa stood calmly as three burly dock workers began to unload the numerous crates containing her belongings and goods were shifted out of the shuttle and dock the docks to a large storage complex. Upon being pulled out of the door by Olaf she looked out at the large expanse of Harvest's main spaceport.

She pulled Olaf back as he leaned over a sheer drop of at least two hundred feet onto a warehouse roof, the shuttle docks behind them were arranged in a vertical grid and the vacant one Elsa had pulled into was stacked above at least twelve more. The place stank of smoke and exhaust fumes. And unwashed bodies, and bad food. It smelled like life. Olaf seemed to be loving it as Elsa heard her stomach rumble.

_Well that's not very ladylike_

"Olaf, do you want to get some food?" Elsa said quietly. The boy's face lit up as he nodded his head excitedly. Elsa turned to glance back at the shuttle as the one-eyed man came through the threshold handing her a bundle of notes.

"Two thousand for the mighty pretty lady," he said, before snapping his fingers at her. "Keycode please." Elsa calmly passed over the thin metal strip that served as a key.

He pointed with the two good fingers on his left arm directly over the edge towards the corrugated iron roof directly below them.

"That warehouse, 1080" he said once again, tipping his hat before he ducked back inside.

Elsa pocketed the money and glanced towards the wide flat expanse beyond rows of warehouses and stalls, filled with several boats of all different shapes and sizes.

_Persephone_ she told herself.

* * *

Anna fiddled absentmindedly with the bun her hair was pulled back into, with a plait running along above her fringe. She'd changed out of her overalls into a dark blue jumpsuit with a pink sweater underneath in case the chill in the Harvest air picked up.

There were three men stood in front, she'd seen them talking to the man in front of a Firefly class four parked two spots away from them, before they'd turned their attention to Anna's notably smaller ship. The one that attracted her attention was barely up to her own shoulder.

The other two were vast compared to him, bulky and fleshed out where he was stick thin, chiselled jawlines as opposed to a weak chin, but they both deferred to him. A row of tattered medals were stitched on to a grey uniform so faded in places it was almost transparent. He adjusted the purple sash that ran across from left shoulder to waist.

_You don't even need to sell this one honey, just let him do his little routine._

"So" came the weaselly voice of the small man, "why should we get on board this vessel and not that nice shiny Firefly class four two berths over there, after all it couldn't be more than a decade old."

Anna smirked.

"Well sir you can go in that big shiny boat over there if you really want, but you'll be payin' more for exactly what you'd get in a class three. They ain't as fast and there's an oddity about the way they changed the engines that made 'em rattle somethin' fierce."

He wasn't really asking because he wanted to know, he wanted her to sell it. He was completely aware of the cheapness of running a class three compared to a class four. Anna tried to conceal a smile by biting her lip as she watched the skinny man turn to his two companions and one passed him a small burlap sack containing money.

"How much to Persephone then?" he said quietly as he stroked the tip of his waxed moustache.

"Fifteen hundred each, half now, half when you get there," Anna said brightly as she stretched out her palm and nine notes dropped into it. The thin man snapped his fingers as the two men in long brown trenchcoats behind him began lifting crates into the hold of the ship.

_Browncoats. You'd think people would have stopped wearin' em by now_

* * *

It was another hour before anyone else even passed the rows of spaceships lined up, and Anna had almost fallen asleep before she heard a youngster's voice.

"Hello!"

Anna jerked her head sharply upwards and was rewarded with the sight of a small boy with platinum blonde hair smiling at her.

"Hello, where'd you come from?" Anna said warmly. The little boy stretched out his arms.

"I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs."

_Kid can't be on his own, not if he's out at this end of the port._

"Hi Olaf, I'm Anna, who are you with, where's your mommy?"

And for reasons Anna couldn't understand, the boy in front of her began to cry.

_Oh yeah real clever of you girl, he's out in the Harvest port on his own he clearly don't have a mama._

"I'm sorry Olaf I didn't mean to upset you, c'mere" Anna said as she stood up and grasped the youngster in her arms. He calmed down almost instantly and hugged back, nuzzling the fabric of her sweater contentedly. The pair of them stayed like this for almost a minute before Anna pulled away and stepped back before squatting down to reach his level.

"Who are you with Olaf, you can't be out here all by yourself?"

Before Olaf could answer his name was called. The tone sounded distressed as Anna turned her head to see a woman running towards the pair of them. Olaf pointed and nodded his head excitedly.

"This is Elsa, my big sister," he said matter-of-factly.

"Olaf!" Elsa cried for a second time, grabbing the youngster and scooping him into her arms, her tiny frame displaying surprising strength, "Don't you ever run off like that again!"

Anna looked her up and down. The baggy blue sun pullover disguised the shape of her upper body but the skin tight leggings and thigh high leather boots of a spacer accentuated every curve below the waist. And the braid she had her hair done in looked so intricate, even as parts of it came undone when Olaf fiddled with it.

A tears rolled from her eye down her cheek as she squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to put the youngster down. Anna looked her face over, every line every small freckle, every eyelash. She was beautiful, and when her eyes opened to reveal their deep blue irises it was all Anna could do not to blurt something out.

_Wow_

Elsa's eyes turned to Anna.

_Ai ya you actually said that out loud. Nice one girl._

There was a long awkward pause as Elsa placed Olaf down on the floor again and took his small hand in her own. Anna glanced quickly at her slender fingers wrapping around Olaf's, making his look thick in comparison.

"Hi" Elsa finally said quietly.

Anna tilted her head curiously to the side slightly, a curl of hair slid from the top of her head over her eye.

"Hi, he's yours I take it sweetie?"

_Well obviously, god Anna get it together, sales time._

"Um, yes. I was looking for a cabin for the night when he... well he wasn't there." Elsa replied, eyes fixed on the floor.

"I was only having a look at the ships" Olaf protested. Elsa shushed him.

"Well if you're stayin' on Harvest you'll wanna skip town and make north, the port ain't the nicest place to be settin' up shop."

Elsa began to glance up before lowering her head again and staring at Anna's dusty boots. Unlike the blonde's, they were heavy, designed to protect your feet, not improve your look. Anna had worn through her only pair of shoes weeks ago.

"We're not staying, I just thought I would take a day's rest before I kept moving."

"Well where are you lookin' to be spacefarin' to?"

_Come on just look up and let me see those eyes again_

"Persephone" Olaf cried happily. Elsa shushed him again.

"Well then girl you'd best hop on board my fine little boat right here cause we're headin' straight for Persephone. Should be there in just over 2 weeks." Anna piped up. The smile she wore wasn't the smile she'd used to get the pervious customers on board. It was genuine. Anna couldn't tell why but she really wanted this woman on board, even if it was just for two weeks.

"How much?" Elsa said quietly.

"Two and a half, one and a quarter up front."

Elsa swore under her breath.

"Sorry I can't afford it". Elsa had rashly assumed that prices wouldn't have increased in recent years, despite it being an obvious economic occurrence. Especially with the economy crashing on core planets due to high ranking Alliance personnel being vilified left right and centre.

Anna's expression wilted as the blonde turned around and began to trudge off back through the dust.

"Wait, how much you got?" Anna called after her, practically tripping over her feet as she began to chase after the blonde. Elsa slowly turned back around. Her lips parted slightly as no sound came out. Telling people about your monetary affairs wasn't exactly a common dockside activity.

"Two" she finally said. Anna weighed up the options in her head. Hans wouldn't like just letting five hundred credits per person drop. She hummed slightly.

"Got anything good to bump up your value?" Anna asked, crossing her fingers.

_Go on say you do, say you've got somethin'_

She watched as Elsa reached inside her small backpack and pulled out a small wooden box. She glanced at it for a second before extending her arm towards Anna. It was barely bigger than Anna's hand.

Anna's hand brushed against Elsa's fingertips as she reached out to take the box. They were cool. Pleasantly cool, especially against the oppressive heat that most planets in the verse were burdened with.

Anna's eyes widened as she undid the small latch and the box squeaked when the lid was lifted. Elsa bit her lip and stared straight ahead, watching Anna look down into the box. Seconds felt like hours before Anna finally closed it and looked forward.

_God those eyes._

"Two thousand." Anna smiled. Elsa's eyes lit up as she released Olaf's hand to rummage in her pocket for the bundle of hundred credit notes. She placed them gently into Anna's outstretched palm and retook Olaf's hand in her own.

"Got a storage lock up?" Anna asked, barely able to keep the smile from tugging at her lips.

Enough with the grinning. Come on, Hans taught you about keeping your emotions under wraps makin' a sale.

"Ummm, yes" Elsa said, sliding a small key fob out of her pocket, "there's quite a bit"

"Ahh don't worry yourself sweetheart, I'll send our pretty boy out on his mule to bring it all over," Anna replied with a laugh, before turning and making a grand sweeping gesture with her arm, "welcome aboard the Frozen Heart, the finest boat ever to sail the skies of the Verse."

Elsa gave a slight bow out of politeness and began to walk towards the ship with Olaf in tow. Anna watched her walk up the loading ramp to be greeted with a polite, though somewhat gruff handshake by Hans, and waited till she was just far enough away to definitely be out of earshot.

"Wow."

* * *

**I accidentally made this a whole thing from a daft idea I had so I hope it's decent. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Please excuse me while I proceed to spend fourteen hours of the next week watching every episode of Firefly because I haven't in at least 6 months.**

**Also I re-uploaded this because I was really drunk when I put it up.**


	2. Sweet

Elsa glanced around the hold. Twelve crates were being moved from the yellow loader that the blonde man sat upon it kept referring to as a mule. The word 'Sven' painted in huge black letters on the hood made her smile slightly. She still had no idea what was in the crates, only that her uncle must have gone to tremendous effort to acquire their contents.

She felt a tug on her right arm and realised she was still holding Olaf's hand.

"Not now Olaf, we need to stay and listen to whatever the captain has to tell us, dong ma?"

Olaf blinked at her.

Elsa made a mental note to stop using Mandarin when talking to Olaf.

"Understand?" she said again, in English this time. Olaf responded by nodding his head vigorously with a smile on his face.

_Doesn't he ever get depressed? His parents just died. Must be a coping mechanism._

The captain coughed loudly as the man dropped the last crate down and he motioned over towards the door controls. Elsa looked at the captain as he tugged at the collar of his jacket. and the other people stood in the hold gathered around him.

Elsa had taken an almost instant dislike to him. He'd practically crushed her hand when he'd shook it, so much so that she made sure Olaf didn't get a free crush. The leather jacket he wore had presumably been black once, but was now the sort of faded grey colour that reminded her of dirty half-melted snow, and it was covered all over in insignia patches, on the back, the sleeves, on each chest pocket. The only character she recognised was Du-Khang.

_Funny, don't remember them being nicknamed greycoats_ she thought as she watched the two burly men in the long dusty brown coats the independents had been known for wearing sidled up beside her. The small man stood in front of them stroked his white moustache.

The only other person who appeared to be a passenger was a woman who looked a little younger than Elsa with a huge shock of ginger curls cascading away from her head. Not auburn like the girl who she'd paid to come on board, so orange it was almost glowing.

"I am Captain Westerguard. You can call me Captain, or Sir. This is my boat, and for the next two weeks you'll treat it well and we'll get you to Persephone all safe."

Elsa zoned out from whatever he was saying. It was a lecture given on countless freelance ships everywhere. Stay in the guest quarters and no going near the crew quarters, engines or hold without a crew member. What she was focusing on was the auburn haired girl from earlier who'd just skipped her way up the entry ramp and was now perched on one of the crates belonging to Elsa crossing and uncrossing her legs.

_She said wow didn't she. Before, first thing she ever said to me._

Elsa thought about how silly that sounded. She was a companion,it was her job to make people think 'wow' at the mere mention of her. But then again she wasn't dressed like a companion, baggy pullovers and a messy braid with hair that hadn't been combed for nearly 2 days were hardly attractive.

Elsa realised she was staring and turned her head towards the floor, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.

_You're a trained companion, you don't get whimsical attractions just because you saw some piaoliang de nuhai smile at you._

Anna dangled her legs absentmindedly, having heard Hans give the speech at least 20 times in the 2 years she'd been on board, it was always fun assessing the passengers. There were always passengers vesselside when they were taking jobs.

The two huge browncoats unnerved her. Hans always tended to get irritable whenever the Unification War was brought up. Anna herself was too young to remember anything but the stories her father had told her round a campfire. The tiny man who seemed to give orders to them unnerved her even more for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on.

The woman with the curls had been on board for almost three hours. Anna took an instant liking to her odd accent. She was wearing a loose homespun dress common to folk who lived simple lives out on the borders, having brought only one trunk of luggage that was oddly light.

But it was the last one who'd come on board that had really piqued Anna's interest. Something about her was so alluring. She didn't; look prim and proper like travellers going between core worlds trying to appear sophisticated, and she didn't look like a hick from a backwater planet who'd never seen the stars from space.

And Anna couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about her body language that made her attractive.

That and the fact that she was staring straight at her.

_Wait is she starin' at you? No she's starin' right down at the floor. Get your head together Anna._

And then Anna's head snapped around at the sound of her own name being called.

"I said take all six of our guests here to their bunks." Hans said sternly.

"...oh right, right away captain" Anna said quickly, jumping down and beckoning an arm to lead the passengers through the door past the infirmary.

"So yeah as the captain were sayin', no goin' in the cargo hold without any of the crew there" Anna said as she hopped down into the common area. She gave a small wave through the infirmary door to Rapunzel, who was busy going through her medical inventory.

"This area is fine as long as we don't got someone in the doc's room, and here are your bunks. So if you three could take the ones off to the side" she continued as she gestured to the trio of males following close behind her. The two larger ones gruffly nodded while the small one didn't so much as glance at Anna before closing his bunk's door.

Anna rolled her eyes slightly.

"And these three are for you then." She frowned slightly at Olaf, "will you two be bunkin' together or takin' two?"

Elsa would have thought long and hard if she hadn't seen Olaf's face light up with glee.

"I've never had my own room before! Can I have my own room Elsa? Can I? Please?"

Anna looked at Elsa's lopsided smile as she watched the child pull on her hand. The redhead beside her stifled a laugh.

"I think we won't be sharing" she said with a slight laugh as Olaf ran into one of the two bunks next to each other and vaulted onto the bed.

"It's so soft, like fresh snow. Except not so cold!"

"Cutie" Anna said quietly. As the Elsa followed him in and sat down on the bed next to him while the other woman made her way into the vacant cabin across from them and closed the door.

"Hans honey," Anna said as she pulled an old-timer style handset from the wall and twirled the cord in her free hand, "everybody's at home time to get this beauty in the air."

"Don't call me honey Anna, strap yourself in" came the flat reply from the other end. Anna chuckled slightly as she hung the handset up again.

There was a ringing as Hans' voice sounded over the intercom he'd had installed. Olaf placed his hands over his ears as it squealed.

"This is your captain, we're about to be taking off. Please stay sat down in a safe spot until we're skyborne"

There was another squeal as it cut out again. Anna found Rapunzel closing the infirmary doors when she sat on the spongy sofa across and heard the engines on either side of the ship roar.

"Persephone here we come" Rapunzel sang as she jumped next to Anna and swung her feet up.

"Don't you ever wear shoes? Isn't that bad for a doctor to do or somethin'?"

"Anna if I wore the boots I wear planetside in there it'd be the colour of those coats the captain hates so much."

Anna tried to reply but it was drowned out by the tremendous noise as the ship lurched upwards and began to soar into the sky.

* * *

"Dinner will be in an hour, Rapunzel take everyone up when it's ready, Anna you're cooking tonight."

The squeal echoed throughout the Frozen Heart's metal interiors as Hans flicked off the intercom on his desk.

"Have we got coordinates for Persephone punched in Kristoff?"

"Yeah captain, we're sailin' straight. If we avoid a solar wind that should hit us in about nine days we should get there in fifteen. If not, well it might be a little longer."

Hans grunted and threw his jacket onto the chair as he stood up and stretched.

"i'm going to my bunk, shout when Anna's done cooking wancan."

Kristoff barely muttered a reply as Hans' metal plated soles clanked against the steps out of the cockpit and towards his bunk. He proceeded to flick a holoclip recorder kept next to his plastic reindeer toy.

"Reindeers are better than people" came the voice of a much younger Kristoff through the holoclip as he played a small steel guitar sat in a barn hiding from the snow, "Sven don't you think that's true?"

"Yeah people will beat you, and curse you and cheat you, every one of them's bad except you." came another voice, the younger Kristoff doing words for the reindeer.

"Thanks buddy" the present Kristoff said to the holoclip.

"We're not that bad are we?" came a voice from behind Kristoff as he practically jumped out of his seat with shock.

"Anna how many times have I asked you not to sneak up on me?"

"Sorry Kristoff, I wanted to check if you're feelin' alright."

She got a grunt in reply.

"Look I'm sorry about it all but it wasn't workin' for me."

Kristoff snorted.

"I think I know fine well what'd be working for you Anna?"

"How many times have I told you, I don't want anything to do with Hans, he's more like a big brother."

"Not him Anna"

Anna folded her arms and frowned.

"Stop messin' around Kristoff, you said you were gonna be okay with us not bunkin' together and all, stop tryin' to wind me up."

Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

"Why can't you just say we were dating Anna? It's not hard."

"i just did."

"You're so backwater it's not even funny Anna"

Anna pushed him out of the chair.

"If you're just gonna make fun of me I'm not makin' you any dinner Kristoff."

"Alright alright, I was just saying I get why you broke up with me considering the way you kept staring at the blonde woman."

Anna blinked twice.

"I was starin'? I wasn't starin'. Do you think she thought I was?"

Kristoff let out a small laugh and Anna frowned at him.

"Calm down feisty pants, I'm sure she didn't notice. And if she did you're only stuck on the boat with her for a fortnight."

Anna clenched her fists, apparently rather obviously when Kristoff stared at them.

"I was joking Anna, don't take it so seriously," he gave her hands a condescending look, "now go wash your hands, you look like you've been in a Beaumonde forge all day, don't be cooking my chow like that."

* * *

The ship had broken atmo and the g-forces pushing her down against the bed wore off as Elsa pulled out the notebook in her front pocket. Olaf began rolling around on the bed again as she ruffled his hair.

She started trying to make careful note of several things. Stick to western foods because he's not fond of noodles or rice, allergic to Propoxin, favourite games are knucklebones and Albans shuffle (in the crates).

She flicked her head up sharply at the sound of a knock on her door.

"Come in!" Olaf said happily before Elsa could respond, the door slid open to reveal the red haired woman from the hold. Olaf popped his head up happily.

"Sorry to bother you lassie, I just thought it was gonna be a long ride and it might be nice to get to know each other," came her voice.

Olaf immediately bolted over to her and squeezed her tightly. She ruffled his hair a little.

"Hi I'm Olaf!" he said brightly.

"Merida," she replied in her thick accent, unlike one Elsa had ever known, "careful you don't want to be rubbing your face against this fabric, might not do you too good in the long run."

Olaf stepped back wide eyed and looked at the dress like it might kill him. Merida crouched down and smiled.

"I only meant it's a bit rough, who's your friend Olaf?"

Olaf ran back over to Elsa and grabbed her hand to make her wave. Elsa almost grimaced at how awkward she felt. She was good at establishing a bond with a client, but had never been brilliant with new people.

_Come on Elsa, emotions in check like you've always practised._

"This is my big sister Elsa!" he said with a hint of pride in his voice as Elsa gave a half smile.

"Hi" she said quietly to Merida.

"Sorry, I can leave if I'm bothering you." Merida said.

"No, no it's fine." Elsa said quietly, before changing the subject, "Your accent is a bit odd, where are you from?"

"One of the north continents on Greenleaf. We pick up a bit of an odd accent up there" Merida replied.

"I like her accent" Olaf piped up. Elsa gave a half-smile at his endless optimism as Merida took out a deck of cards with intricate designs replacing the standard look of them. Olaf turned a few of them over in his hands as Merida began shuffling the rest together and explaining the rules of a game called Highlander.

Elsa spent the whole of the next hour just listening to Olaf tell Merida about his life back on St. Albans, what he liked to do in his free time, playing with Oaken, building a never ending family of snowmen. Elsa gave her half-smile again involuntarily. Snow never melted where they lived,so if everyone left them alone your snowman would be there permanently.

Elsa felt that during that one hour she'd learned more about Olaf by just listening to him talk to Merida than she ever could by just talking to him.

His favourite food was strawberries, which Elsa only remembered having on St. Albans once, yet he described how his uncle had got him some every birthday. He liked listening to the steel guitar music his brother had played, he hated the way his dad made him read books about the lore of Earth-that-was, and he'd always wanted to meet Elsa.

Elsa's tranquil world was shattered by the squeal on the intercom system bursting into the cabin.

"Rapunzel, dinner's ready for the passengers," came the captain's brusque voice as it squealed again. Less than 10 seconds later the long blonde hair of the ship's doctor came into view.

"Hey, hope you're all hungry cause it's dinner time and Hans doesn't serve anything until mornings, I'm Rapunzel and I'll be your doctor and general helping hand while you're on here."

"You're seeming a bit formal for someone serving simple travellers" Merida said with a smile. Rapunzel blushed slightly.

"I...I'm polite..." she said as Merida gathered up her cards and Olaf jumped up to grab Elsa's hand.

"I was just a joke lassie, lighten up" came the heavily accented reply as a rude cough came from behind Rapunzel, who span on her bare feet to see the skinny man from earlier looking up at her in a peculiar fashion.

"The galley is up those stairs yes?" he said sharply, pointing a skinny finger towards the metal staircase by the infirmary.

"Um, yeah, I-" Reapunzel began before he walked off without acknowledging her. His two companions followed. Rapunzel beckoned for the other three to follow.

"Do you take on many passengers then?" Elsa asked the doctor as she was pulled by Olaf up the steel steps.

"There's always someone. Thankfully I've never had to sew any of them back together." she replied, hiding a slight laugh.

The three men in the galley were already ladling food from large steaming pans onto grey trays as the captain unceremoniously sat down at the only place with a plate and placed a large hunting knife next to it.

Elsa eyes the largest one as she realised it contained noodles, obviously the night's staple food. Her nervousness was well founded as she spooned some onto a tray for Olaf and he picked at them slightly.

Anna brought over a long tray containing steaming vegetables and sat down across the table from Elsa.

"Well I'm Anna and I've been your chef tonight, I hope you're all enjoyin' the gourmet grub".

One of the browncoats snorted. The other one elbowed him in the ribs. The captain pulled the tray towards himself and pulled a generous helping onto his own plate before pulling a pair of chopsticks up and beginning his meal.

"So Captain Westerguard," came the nasal voice of their leader, "I notice from your jacket you've been to Hera. I only mention it because I have recently become Duke of a small area, only a few hundred square miles but you may know it due to it's proximity to the Valley."

The captain didn't look up as another face, the blonde man from earlier, appeared in the room and pulled up the chair beside the captain.

"And I also see you were on Shadow in the last year of-"

The captain picked up the knife and flicked sharply downward, embedding about an inch and a half deep in the table. He pushed his chair back loudly and grabbed the plate, walking out of the galley towards the crew bunks without saying a word.

The blonde pulled the knife away from the table as both browncoats shot daggers at the duke. All three had finished their meals by this point and the duke made the somewhat hasty decision to leave, being followed by the other two as he nearly tripped on the stairs back down to the cabins.

"Which one of you mentioned the war then?" the blonde man said quietly as he grabbed a tray and covered it in noodles before drenching them in sauce.

"Kristoff don't" Rapunzel said quietly as she ladled out another tray and placed it in the vacant seat next to her. "For Flynn" she said to Anna, who nodded, her cheeks crammed with food.

Elsa's eyes narrowed as she looked at the blonde man. She couldn't quite put her finger on why she knew him.

"You look familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"

"You ever been to St. Albans?" he said through a mouthful of food. Elsa nearly choked on her own at the mention of her home planet. Olaf spoke before she could manage to swallow.

"Yes yes! We're from St. Albans! We lived near the Arendelle ice shelf!"

Kristoff turned his head towards the young boy between him and Elsa.

"Is that so young'un? I used to live near there in Rock Valley, did you ever know Oaken? The man who ran the trading post?"

Olaf nodded his head so quickly Elsa could have sworn it would fly off.

"He's our uncle and he always brought me presents during winter if he could get them from off planet!" Olaf continued excitedly.

_This isn't good for laying low, everybody knows everybody on St. Albans_ Elsa thought. She attempted to speak but years of refinement meant she kept chewing and attempted to swallow her food as Kristoff spoke again.

"Big old Oaken's your uncle? Well that must mean you're little Olaf! Looking a bit bigger than the pictures he had when I left that place 5 years ago." he turned his head towards Elsa, who had just managed to finally swallow before realising all eyes were turned towards her.

"Which would make you... Elsa, the companion in training. or, I guess not in training any more."

Elsa's face went red as she looked down at the table.

"Companion" Anna murmured, as all the eyes switched to her. _Gorram it did I say that out loud?_

Anna was the only one now looking at Elsa as Kristoff snorted.

"Well yes I, was, but.."

Elsa cursed her inability to lie or spin a tale. Companions didn't lie, they were just selective about the information they told their clients.

"But now she's taking care of me!" Olaf said loudly.

Elsa gave him a smile.

_Damn that half grin is so cute._

Anna's eyes widened as she looked around.

_Okay you didn't say that one out loud. Nice going._

"I think that's really sweet, are the pair of you moving to Persephone?" came the voice of Rapunzel.

"No, no I think we'll move further on from there. Maybe Haven, or Whitefall."

Kristoff tapped the large knife against the table loudly, hitting it with the flat side of the blade.

"Whitefall's not a place to be headin' these days. Haven might be nice for ya. Why didn't you stay on Albans?"

There was a long pause as Elsa thought about reasons why she couldn't have stayed.

"Too cold." she finally said. Kristoff laughed loudly. Anna realised she was staring at Elsa again and shoved some noodles in her mouth before she could say anything else involuntary.

"No but seriously Elsa, how come you're not on one of the core planets being a fancy companion any more?" Kristoff asked.

Elsa's jaw tightened as she attempted to come up with a reason.

_The parliament member..._

"Well... when our parents died and I was heading back at the same time I thought I'd take Olaf with me..."

Mercifully Kristoff decided not to pry any further and she turned her head back forwards as Olaf squeezed her hand underneath the table. She smiled slightly and found herself staring straight into Anna's eyes.

Anna immediately blinked and looked away, noticing she was out of food.

"W-where's Flynn?" she stuttered, noting that there was still an untouched tray of food.

"Probably sulking in his room because I turned him down for a fancy dinner today."

"Fancy meal at the Harvest docks? Such a romantic fella."

There was a thud as Kristoff pushed his empty tray towards Rapunzel and scraped backwards on his chair.

"You're on washing up duty tonight blondie." he said with a laugh before turning to Anna and winking slightly.

"I'll help if you want" Merida said, speaking for the first time since she'd sat down.

"Thank you, that would be lovely." Rapunzel said as she stood up and grabbed her own and Kristoff's tray and took them to the counter. Kristoff disappeared towards the cockpit as Anna stood up. "Anna, take Flynn his dinner will you?" Rapunzel asked as she came back and lifted up a heavy saucepan.

Anna sighed and grabbed Flynn's now stone cold meal and headed along the corridor towards the bunks and stopped outside the one nearest the cockpit before kicking it hard.

"What?" came Flynn's, muffled through the door.

"Chow."

"Leave it outside."

Anna sighed again as she place the tray on the floor by the small knee height hatch that served as a door and walked into the cockpit.

"Told you I knew was was working for you." Kristoff said mockingly as Anna stepped into the cockpit.

"Shut up" she said going red as she slumped in the co-pilot's chair across from him. "I never knew she was a companion. Ain't they trained to use their body language to look hot to everyone an' anyone?"

"I don't think she's all that." Kristoff said, and Anna let out a small groan in response. "You know companions can tell when people are attracted to them as well?"

Anna grimaced at the ceiling and groaned again.

"You think she noticed?"

Kristoff smirked.

"I don't think she ever stopped noticing, her mind was so not on conversation during dinner."

Anna ground her palms against her forehead.

"I don't know what it is about her Kristoff" Anna began, before being interrupted.

"It's because she's a well-bred whore. They make everyone think that."

"Don't call her that" Anna said aggressively as she sat up and folded her arms.

"Don't call who that?" came Hans' voice as he stepped into the cockpit. He had shaving foam on his chin and a tin mug of water in his hand, "knife Kristoff." he said sharply.

Anna hadn't noticed Kristoff take the knife back with him and he passed it handle first to Hans, who turned away and made back for his cabin.

"So, back to the fact that you're sweet on our new companion traveller."

"I am not sweet on her Kristoff, shut your ruttin' mouth." Anna replied angrily. Kristoff raised his hands in mock surrender before glancing at a small screen on his console.

"Anna go look at the third rear inductor coil would ya?" he said with a hint of nervousness. Anna frowned as she got up and pulled a pair of heavy gloves out of her pocket and moved towards the exit.

"And Anna,"

"What?"

"You really are sweet on her."

Anna threw one of the gloves at his face and made her way to the engine room to sulk.

* * *

**This week on 'stuff it took me about five days to write'; this chapter...yaayy... I totally didn't watch every episode of Firefly last week.**

**In case anyone's curious, I do actually speak Mandarin (badly) but if anyone notices a word that really shouldn't be there feel free to point it out, they don't tend to go back in google translate because I never write accents on the words because...I suck.**

**Hope people think this is pretty shiny.**


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